MORGANTOWN – West Virginia’s clean hydrogen energy future will unfold across the coming 10 years. During that time, the Morgantown-based Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub, ARCH2, will grow from an idea to a network of projects spanning the West Virginia-Pennsylvania-Ohio region.
A team of ARCH2 leaders provided an update and a road map on the endeavor during a Wednesday webinar.
ARCH2 is “a collaborative initiative between the United States Department of Energy, private industry, state and local governments, academic and technology institutions, non-profit organizations, and community groups working together to build a safe and sustainable clean hydrogen ecosystem in Appalachia.”
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allotted $8 billion for the seven hubs across the country. ARCH2 will be eligible for up to $925 million. The Department of Energy released the first $30 million in July.
The hub will move forward in four phases, said Don LaMonaca, director of Batelle’s critical infrastructure businesses and ARCH2 executive board member. Battelle is the world’s largest independent nonprofit science and technology organization and the prime recipient of the ARCH2 award from DOE.
Phase 1 has just begun, he said. The 11 project developers will start detailed work on their business, financing and management plans, and engineering designs. National Energy Policy Act (NEPA) environmental review will begin – required because the hub is federally funded. And they will finalize project siting.
This phase is expected to take one-and-a-half to three years. Among the projects, Morgantown-based Hope Gas, partnering with Watt Fuel Cells and EQT, will produce clean hydrogen using natural gas for blending in its local distribution system and in residential fuel cells. And in Fairmont, Hog Lick Aggregates will develop a clean fuel services depot for hydrogen-powered trucks, buses and equipment.
Phase 2 includes finalizing financing and permitting, further advance engineering design and complete NEPA review. This will take two to three years.
Phase 3 is construction, taking two to four years. And Phase 4 is ramping up operations, another two to four years.
Each project must fulfill what’s called “go/no-go” criteria in order to advance to the next phase. Along with ARCH2, two other hubs have begun Phase 1: the California Hydrogen Hub and the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub.
ARCH2 is located between two other hubs: the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen and the Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub. LaMonaca commented, “ARCH2 is uniquely positioned geographically to facilitate inter-connectivity between hubs to help achieve the vision of a national clean hydrogen network.”
The hubs have four objectives, he said: emissions reduction, quality job growth, energy security and positive community impact. The community impact objective falls under the White House Justice40 initiative that requires 40% of the benefits from the hub to flow to disadvantaged communities.
Along with Battelle, the National Energy Technology Laboratory is one of five project management and technical support organizations overseeing the hub.
NETL said after the webinar that it is primarily tasked with coordinating techno-economic and life-cycle analyses for the hub. It will perform market analyses to assist in balancing of hydrogen supply and demand across the hub while minimizing overall cost and emissions.
NETL Director Marianne Walck said, “Opening the ARCH2 program office in Morgantown, in close proximity to our facility, is an exciting step that we expect to be followed by further collaboration with our partners in order to create high-paying jobs and public-private partnerships that will create a regional network for hydrogen manufacturing and production.”
Along with the Hope Gas and Hog Lick projects, four other are slated for West Virginia, with four in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and two to be determined. LaMonaca said they also will add up to three other projects to the hub, to backfill for projects that exited during the negotiation process. Those projects will be selected by the end of the year.
Along the way, the hub team will hold regional engagement forums to hear from various stakeholders. Melanie White, with project management team member Allegheny Science & Technology, and ARCH2 community benefits lead, said a fourm for this area will be held in southwest Pennsylvania during the week of Nov. 18.
Email: dbeard@dominionpost.com
